JP-9-26425-A discloses a reagent management technique for an automatic analyzer. To identify a reagent, the analyzer reads reagent ID information from the storage medium attached to its vessel and searches the reagent information database stored on the analyzer for the reagent with the matched ID. By doing so, the analyzer judges whether the reagent has already been registered or not yet. If the reagent needs to be newly registered, necessary information is stored for its management, such as its remaining amount and expiration date. If the reagent has already been registered, its management is continued using already stored information such as its remaining amount and expiration date.
International Publication No. WO/2006/009251 also discloses a reagent management technique in which reagent information storage media are designed to store reagent information including information that is used to render reagents unusable.
Such reagent information is collectively managed by a server system with the use of reagent IDs or simply stored on reagent information storage media together with reagent IDs, or both of these methods are used at the same time.
Whatever the method, conventional reagent management often requires the use of reagent IDs to identify reagents as well as the writing or reading of reagent information to/from storage media.
Collective management of reagent IDs using a server system involves higher data transfer costs, compared with the method of storing reagents IDs on storage media together with reagent information.
Nevertheless, there are also problems with the latter method. First, it is difficult to collect widely distributed reagent information storage media and redistribute them after adding new reagent information. Moreover, even if the auxiliary data areas of those storage media have been used as reagent information areas for storing the new reagent information, reading that information requires the modification and redistribution of analyzer software for information readers to read the new information. Thus, if the software modification is not done, new reagent information cannot be added, or a reagent that has been judged unusable may be able to be used by certain analyzers.